The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-01-01
THE BEGINNING.
DR.. CURTlSS' NOTES ON THE SUM-
DAY SCHOOL LESSON.

Lesson for Sunday, Jan. g, 1ss'-Les-
son Text, Gen. 4. 26-31-Golden Text,
Gen. 1, 1; I'm the beginning God
Created the Heaven and the Earth"
The History of Redemption. The Old
Testament contains the history OF redemp-
ton. 1t deals mainly with Israel, because
Israel was the people of redemption. To
them were committed the oracles Of God;
from them in the fullness of time Jesus
Christ came. Tho lessons of the first quar-
ter are in Genesis, which treats of tho b..
ginning of the universe, of man, of the ma
tons and of Israel 1t mentions other
nations, because in the history Of rcdemp-
ton salvation is to be provided for them
through the Messiah.
The Bible and Science The Bible is not
n scientific text book. Its true character is
indicated in , Tim. iii, 1917. Tho evil
dence of its divine origin is not in the fact
that it agrees, or does not disagree, with
the latest researches of the astronomer or
the gcologiSt. If the Bible could thus be
harmoni1od in every age with the conflict
ing theories of men of science, it would in
deed he open to the charge that anything
may b. proved from Scripture
Superiority of the BiJlc.-But the first
chapter Of Genesis is infinitely above any
thing that mans wisdom has attained or
can attain. 1t teaches with certainty that
in the beginning God created the heaven
| and the earth. Mon without knowledge of
tho Bible have believed in Il Creator. They
have seen the evidence in the works around
and above them; but their accounts OF
creation are intcrminglod with the groSScst
supciS;tions. We need only to read the
account Of creation as given in hcathen
| cosaoGonics to see the divine origin of that
which we have in our Bible; and we may
be certain that science can never drop its
plummot line so low as to disprove the sub
lime statement, "In the beginning God Gre
ated the heaven and the earth
THE LESSON.
Creation of Man Gen. i, 26).--Ierc we
reach the climax of Gods creative work. 1t
is written of the creation of lower animals
"Iet the waters bring FORTH LET tho
earth bring forth;' but when VIC come to
the crown of creation we read, Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness. "
Men are expressly forbidden to try to make
an image of God. The Scriptures represent
him as being without bodily FORM al
mentioned by a necessity of human speech
as symbols of power and knowledge. But
there is an outward expression which must
be suited to deity. such "A form ms Christ
had on tho mount of TRANSPORTATION, and,
such perhaps, as the Angel of Jehovah as
sumed in his visits to the patriarchs When
we read of the image and likeness of God,
we are to understand not only an independ
ant w hus m of
choice, and whom God especially makes
ruler over all his creatures, but also that
man was created with body most fitted to
express that personality, and which was
type of the resurrection body, which is to
be like Christ glorious body.
Trinity of the Godhcad. We are not 60
suppose that the doctrine of the trinity is
clearly taught in this passage, where God
says, "Lct us make man." although it is in
deed germinally contained in it, since that
doctrine is first distinctly set forth in the
| New Testament Nor does God (ElOhim)
address the angels, for the Scriptures clearly
teach that they are not shareIs in the work
of creation but in the Oh Testament sense
God contains cverythia.; that il divine in
himself He is plurality in unity, henc"
his name Elohm, which is n plural form
In the New Testament 81 nse plurality be
comes unity, althoush even in the Oh,
| Testament we read Of thc .pirit of God ~
active in the creation of mater and of man
and of the Angel of Jehovah, the God OF
! revelation who corresponds to the Son of
| God in the New Testament. Thus we have
ntimations of the doctrine of the trinity in
the Old Testament, which prepare the way
for a moro complete unfolding in the New.
| ,.TN
is fatal blow to the doctrine of the cvolu
ton of man from the lower animals. Even
! il the missing monkey should be- found that
is said 10 constitute the lost link between
apes and man, still the scientists would not
BE- able to provo that he was the progcnitor
| Of him who was made in the image of Cod,
In some of the museums one secs wax figures
which bear startling rescmblances to Ger
tain historical pcrsonagcs, but no power OF
man could give a wax figure II soul, and no
power of nature can ever transform the
highest type of ape into the lowest type of
man In mans possession of Il soul there
4 is great gulf fixed between him and the
| lower animals Our greatest wisdom is, $50
God created man in his own image, in the
image OF God created he him.
| The distinction Of sex was also created by
/ tpl. W oman - mar! counterpart ''th
| 2-1S, Hebrew, a help as over against HIM.
In tho divine order then, man and woman
supplement each other, ana arc designed to
walk and work together,
| Marriage IS. 2SI /, honorable in "ll God
not only made mm AMI woman for each
other, bat also for their children. Tho ideal
/ life even for those who are unmarried is
/ in connection with some family compare
/ Eph. iii, u, -, Revised Version. Man in
/ his creation is made king Of the earth.
| Evcrg living thing is subject TO him.
Food for man Us. 90 "O..-ln these
verses it is implied That God orig'nally gave
/ the herb to man for food. 1t j., only after
. tla dcugc that h. sol. ualy bostow5 on him
the use of animal food .Gcn. *, 3. We
may not say that the destruction Of animal
| lif, is to be considered the result Of the fall,
although in the picture Of Paradisa rcSaiued
the lion j. said TO eat straw like the OK.
All Things Good ". 3D.-At the end of
the sixth day Gods creative work reached
its elimination. Each stage except the
second, in the first week IS pronounced good;
but on the evening Of tho sixth day, when
man, the lord Of creation, who Is a little
lower than God (Ps. viii; D, Revised Yer
SION, takes his throne, the tn@.g. Of all
! sees that &c Is very good.
u.